After four years on Pine Island Road in north Cape Coral, A Cajun Bowl has shut its doors. But owner Mike Catalan says this is not the end.

When Mike Catalan closed A Cajun Bowl's doors on Jan. 20, he had no idea it would be for the last time.

"There was some confusion about when the lease would end," Catalan said. "I knew we weren't going to renew it, but I thought we had till April."

Turns out he has until Thursday.

When Catalan returned from a trip to New Mexico last week he realized the error and that he had some cleaning to do. He's spent the last several days at his Cape Coral restaurant getting packed up and moved out. He broke the news to A Cajun Bowl's many fans on its Facebook page late this morning, that, after almost four years, the restaurant had closed.

Catalan has been planning to close his tiny, Louisiana-inspired restaurant off Pine Island Road for some time now. The space was just too small and too hidden. He's been warning his regulars of the closure for weeks, over bowls of his gumbo and plates of his etouffee.

His plan: Take some time off, catch up on his home life, spend some time with his mom in his native Lafayette, Louisiana, and maybe get in a week or so volunteering in his wife's home country of Puerto Rico.

And then: Relaunch A Cajun Bowl as a food truck.

25. Crawfish and shrimp etouffee is one of the Louisiana specialties chef-owner Mike Catalan serves at A Cajun Bowl in Cape Coral.(Photo: Special to The News-Press)

"I'm hoping to have it ready by mid-summer or early fall, then we'll get it up and running and on the streets," Catalan said.

He plans to have the truck at fixed locations during each week of the month. The first week: north Cape; the second: south Cape, the third: Fort Myers — or thereabouts, depending on how things go.

A Cajun Bowl's recipes and menu should remain in place, as will Catalan, who promises to be just as hands-on with the truck as he has been at the restaurant.

Catalan knows the truck won't solve his lack-of-space issue. But he plans for it to be a stepping stone, a means of possibly acquiring a larger, more centrally located brick-and-mortar restaurant down the road.

"Ultimately I want to be in a bigger place, doing the bigger stuff: crawfish boils, live music," Catalan said. "This is a necessary step toward that."

Catalan said he's going to miss his customers these next few months.

They seem to feel the same way.

"I gave them a timeline and an outline of events. I told them we need more space, and everyone seems to understand," he said.

"They've had good memories with us. They can't wait to come back, and I can't wait to serve them."